Cover Story

Storm Surge
In this case it's good. the surgge of business Expert Shutter Services has seen will likely extend beyond 2006.

by Howard Shingle

Business was already doing well in 2004 for Mike and Jamie Heissenberg, Expert Shutter Services, Port St. Lucie, FL; the economy was stable and sales were increasing. Then came Frances.

In early September Frances struck the east coast of Florida with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph and “everything started to go crazy,” Mike Heissenberg says. A little more than two weeks later, Jeanne made landfall in the same area as a Category 3 hurricane. “During that stage between the first storm striking and then the second storm, our phone rang constantly day and night,” Heissenberg says. “We were getting several hundred phone calls a day. There was no possible way to handle all the calls coming in. We tried to sort through them and prioritize.

“After the storm pretty much left our area devastated, we went into recuperation mode. Most of us were without power for weeks, and then just as most of us regained our power the next storm hit.”

That has been the story for most hurricane protection product manufacturers and installers throughout Florida since last year’s relentless hurricane season (see HP, Fall 2004, page 16). The effects of the storms have been dramatic for the industry as a whole, but especially for companies like Expert Shutter Services and the Heissenbergs who saw the eyes of two storms pass right through town, which includes their home as well as their business.

And that phone still hasn’t stopped ringing. “When we did get power restored again the phones were ringing off the hook—a good 100 solid leads a day, no question,”
Heissenberg says. “We’ve been booked out months in advance even for a sales call. We are currently booked and are booking two to three months ahead for just a salesperson to visit. We are currently quoting approximately 10 months from sign-up for delivery. We’re expecting that to probably go closer to 12 months as we get closer to [this year’s] hurricane season.”

Heissenberg expects yet another surge of business soon that could last through next year. “Once the media start to hype it up, those who haven’t called already or tried to call will begin to call, and once they begin to realize how far out it is to get shutters, I think that there’s going to be a rush to get their shutter orders in to try to beat the ’06 hurricane season.”

TAKING THE CALL

Even with things this crazy, it’s important to maintain good business practices that otherwise might fall by the wayside—such as answering those phones. With 60 percent of the calls coming from new customers, Expert Shutter Services has to respond to them while still servicing customers with existing storm panels who need replacements or want to switch to accordion shutters.

“What we’ve done,” Heissenberg explains, “is divide our phone lines. We’ve split a couple of them off for incoming calls—calls coming right out of the yellow pages, for example—and we have those going right to scheduling. We’ve taken the other line and separated it from those so that existing customers have a separate number to call in, so they can actually speak to somebody to check on their order, etc.”

Taking calls from new customers at a time like this demands some tact. “What we are doing is trying to be upfront with the individuals who are calling in, letting them know right up front it won’t possibly be before May to get a salesperson to them and our lead time is about 40 weeks,” Heissenberg says. “So if they wish to continue and set up an appointment, then we do so. There are just so many calls coming in.”

Heissenberg says he repeatedly hears stories from customers who say they’ve called five different shutter companies and his was the only company that actually returned the phone calls. “We hear that all day long,” he says. “I can only imagine that other companies are completely overwhelmed, just as we are. We try to be as good about calling people back as humanly possible.”

There are many war stories circulating these days, such as companies placing signs in their windows declaring, “No new business,” and others that have shut down their phone lines completely. And these stories aren’t just told about shutter companies. It’s the same for screen companies, flooring companies, roofing companies . . .

NEWER IS BETTER

“The biggest volume of sales we’re getting in our area is definitely accordion shutters—by far,” Heissenberg says. “I would say about 90 percent of business right now is accordion shutters.” Primary customers are owners of condominiums along the coastline who are replacing existing sets of shutters. Others include homeowners who handled steel corrugated panels for the first time last year and older clients who’ve realized that there’s no possibility that they can conveniently handle these panels. “A lot of them are seasonal residents, so they were left in an awkward situation of having someone try to cover up their houses—particularly this last season, more than once,” Heissenberg says.

Expert Shutter Services currently handles the High Velocity accordion shutter system. Heissenberg says it has made a big difference for the company in volume and profitability, greatly decreasing fabrication and installation time.

Heissenberg’s evaluation of performance based on last season would be: The newer the better. This is based on product improvements, but mostly on better installation. “What we saw is that the older shutters, particularly shutters that were installed before the [Florida building] code changes took place—actually going back years and years ago—we saw a lot of shutter failure,” he says. “What we saw was not necessarily the shutters themselves gave way, but it was the way in which the shutters were attached. In almost every case it involved the lower tracks, by the use of heavy shims or just the lack of fasteners—very few fasteners utilized way back then.

“What we did see with the newer shutters—we had just finished a project that was installed—was not one scratch on the building. We did see a big difference in shutters that had been installed in the last couple of years compared to shutters that were installed in our area even five or six years ago.”

What was particularly gratifying for Expert Shutter Services is that its installations faired so well during last year’s storms. “These storms roll in and the first thing you think about is, I hope that all of my workers and all of my installers were out there doing what they are supposed to do—and they really did real well,” Heissenberg says.

“We’ve been installing shutters for 17 years along the coastline. We installed shutters before the code changes took place and we’ve been installing shutters since then, we virtually had zero failures in anything that we’ve been installing in the last 17 years.

“Some of these high-rise buildings where we installed all the shutters—quite literally we had as much as a mile of shutters installed on one building—we were getting letters of recommendation and compliments from building managers who sustained zero damage during the storms. It was really a great feeling.”

WHO DO YOU CALL?

The Heissenbergs are not new to the Florida storm shutter market. Expert Shutter Services has been operating since February 1988, which means it has been around since before Hurricane Andrew.

Mike Heissenberg got his start in the business while still in high school when he helped his uncle who worked for a shutter company. He then got involved with starting and developing a new company in Riviera Beach. About three years later he saw a tremendous opportunity in Port St. Lucie, so started his own business there.

Since then the company has grown to become “the largest shutter manufacturer within the three counties,” Heissenberg says. Expert Shutter Services employs 42 people including Mike and his wife Jamie. It has 12 trucks on the road each day.

“We specialize in the high-rise market. When it comes to the residential market, we’ve always specialized in the higher end type homes, mostly existing but some new construction,” Heissenberg says.

Prior to last season the company had a successful wholesale business, which included 130 Home Depot stores that had the capability of special ordering their accordion shutters through Eastern Metal Supply. But that part of the business had to be closed down when it just couldn’t handle the 20-plus calls a day from each wholesale account in addition to the retail business calls.

One area the company has always been strong in—advertising and marketing—has come back to sort of haunt them. Expert Shutter Services runs two-page-spread yellow pages ads in three counties (St. Lucie, Martin and Indian River). Add to that billboards, TV and newspapers advertising and Expert Shutter Services becomes the first name people think of to call. “We definitely spend our money in advertising,” Heissenberg says.

NEW MINDSET

Clearly, last year’s storms have been responsible for a new mindset when it comes to hurricanes. Some building managers and homeowner associations had restrictions on placing hurricane shutters on the properties, but now they are encouraging them. There also is more concern about water damage now.

Heissenberg credits the state’s new building codes for much of the change because the codes did what they were supposed to do, which is reduce damage and save lives. “Absolutely, 100 percent,” he says. “What we saw was that a majority of new construction held up extremely well. There did seem to be a distinctive difference in the quality of the construction.

“It’s a different world altogether now,” he continues. “People have a respect for how powerful and how damaging a hurricane can be.”

Heissenberg is a board member of the local chapter of the American Red Cross. He relates the story of a woman who conducts insurance seminars and brought an interesting observation to a recent meeting. “She said she has been doing seminars for a long time and she always asks the same question, Have any of you ever been through a hurricane? She said it was rare that somebody would raise a hand. She said now, wherever she goes, the whole room is raised hands; some people raise two hands.”

The current climate reminds Heissenberg of how things were immediately after Hurricane Andrew. Even though Andrew came through much farther south than Port St. Lucie, it still had an effect on business. “Andrew had a strong effect on us and definitely increased our sales for about a two-year period, and we certainly expect we’re going to see the same surge here for at least that duration.”

Many homeowners “almost don’t care what the [seasonal] predictions are,” he says, “they are just so dead set on getting a set of shutters before the next hurricane season starts that the new reports coming out don’t even influence them.”

Expecting this surge of business to last at least through 2006, Expert Shutter Services is looking to expand. “We’re looking to construct a 20,000-square-foot building, strictly to manufacture accordion shutters. We feel there will be a strong enough demand for the next several years to warrant this. Our volume and our manufacturing capabilities and our installation capabilities are increasing every day. We’re working very steadily on improving and increasing our capabilities in these areas.

“If we had enough staff, an unrestricted amount of staff, to sell, manufacture and install, we could easily sell $25 million worth of shutters tomorrow. It’s there, there’s that much demand.”